Development of a prototype of an active exoskeleton of upper limb

Treatment of partial or full loss of function in upper limb due to spinal cord injuries, diseases, stroke or other health conditions require sophisticated intensive rehabilitation procedures of manipulative physiotherapy. Several mechanical devices and upper limb orthosis were designed to assist or augment upper limb function in some of these conditions. Active exoskeleton devices are effective technologies that can be used to compensate or assist body functions and provide sensing and support for non-functioned or partially functioned muscles. Moreover, they work as a robotic system to provide attachment framework for enabling patients to perform their daily tasks easily. This project aims to design and implement a simulated prototype of an active exoskeleton of the upper limb using NI LabVIEW 2014 software with one degree of freedom that represents elbow joint flexing/extension. This was performed using Fuzzy Logic control algorithm to estimate the movement position based on the sEMG signal. The data was recorded from the biceps brachii and triceps muscles of the subject during flexion and extension of elbow joint. The control method was established by extracting two time domain features of EMG which are Integrated EMG (IEMG) and Root Mean Square (RMS) from raw EMG datasets. The results show that the angle estimation can be performed using the time domain properties of EMG signal based on fuzzy logic system design. Also, the maximum value of the estimated angle was equal to 156 degrees while the actual angle was 170 degrees. Based on that, the estimated value of elbow joint angles was compared with the actual angle using fuzzy logic design in LabVIEW with approximately 70% correlation. Moreover, the high angle value obtained indicates that more pronounced EMG activity occurred with The RMS of biceps signal being synchronized with the angle of movement. Finally, the angular velocity obtained was positive with elbow flexing and negative with elbow extension.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

msc

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters-pg

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Strathclyde

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Khougali, Nosiba

DOI

10.48730/yhb2-wh25

Identifier

T14206

Author Identifier

201487488

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:strathclyde:wp988j884